House lighting -- bright, dim, something else?

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I used to use dimmer-switches when bulbs were tungsten. I'd choose a bright bulb and normally have it turned down unless I particularly wanted it bright for a specific purpose. I've still got one in my bedroom that works fine.

Generally I prefer reddish light just for the aesthetics.

That sounds really nice and sociable.

I don't use electric very much at all, and if I do it's dim colours.

I navigate by candlelight or even battery-operated fake candlelight, nightlights, and little strings of fairy lights.

I recently bought five of these for my bedroom. They're crystal balls from a Halloween shop. I wasn't trying to achieve a Halloween vibe but they were two-for-one and they're all I use at night. I would have got six but they were sold out lol.

They make muted blobs of light on my walls and ceiling almost like I'm underwater. It's just the right amount of light not to kill myself tripping over a cat. I'll try to get a picture at night because they're really pretty.





I can only read by a daylit window, but not actual sunlight. It has to be cloudy outside. I cook just with little Christmas lights going in the window, or candles.

I pay the electric so I've taught my kids not to put lights on either. We don't even watch TV or use much electricity except for appliances and computer charging.

Thanks. I really couldn't look more Celtic if I tried. Really dark hair, very pale skin and green eyes. When I lived in Wales the locals were always talking in Welsh to me because they thought I was Welsh!

But it's so annoying to have such pale skin, I can't be in the sun for more than 10 minutes without burning. I have to be really careful. My dad was a redhead, so I inherited the pale skin from him I suppose.

Completely dark the entire day and night. The house is painted black. Battery powered string lights are hung at random. It makes you feel like a vampire, and it saves on electricity!

But on the other hand I desperately need the sun or I get S.A.D. I have a daylight lamp for the winter.

As dim as possible for whatever I'm doing at the time. I like soft, warm light

I really recommend sunset lamps for soft light enjoyers- you angle them at a wall or ceiling and the reflected light fills the room, typically with a warm orange-tinted light (but they also have ones where you can choose any colour of light you want). You can buy them very cheap online. I have two and I use them all the time

I have a very warm and not especially bright light as my overhead light.

I have two brighter bulbs for extra lighting, the one is about as warm as an incandescent, the other is quite cold (more blue, less yellow).

I'm half blind so light is a matter of "as bright as necessary for me to be able to see."

I have to have things very dark to sleep though.

Being in darkness whilst sleeping is ideal, and normal.

Yes, there is evidence to show that the more light humans sleep with, the less their brains get to rest and recharge. It's only recently that we've had lights on at night e.g. streetlamps. Probably 200 years or so? Before then it was dark at night apart from the moon and stars. We need the dark to recharge.

Good point.

Have you ever heard of "First Sleep - Second Sleep" patterns? There are other names for the same thing.

Basically, instead of going to sleep for eight (or however many) hours straight, you sleep a while, say three or four hours, wake up for a while, and then go back to the sleep for the rest of the night. This was apparently a common sleep pattern before gas and electric lights.

In the period between first and second sleep, different people spent the time differently. Many people would contemplate their dreams or get a snack (origins of the late night snack?) or have sex or read or talk to their spouse or siblings or go to the bathroom. Some would even use the time to visit neighbors.

I have a nephew who goes to sleep at dark. He mentioned this to me a couple of years ago and was surprised that I was already familiar with it.

I do that sometimes, but not reliably.

Oil lamp. I made an absolutely great lamp in minutes that's going strong many years later. It's a happy middle ground between a main bedroom light and an aggressive electric lamp and also a very potent emergency light.

It's just a mini mason jar with a two holes poked from the underside of the metal lid with a Philips screwdriver. The burrs can hold a twisted sheet of tissue paper as wicks and they can last days. The lamp itself despite being the size of a small pepper grinder lasts about 8 hours per fill with both wicks burning. Chucks out as much light as a classic oil lamp but ten times smaller and the wicks are almost infinite and free.

Should do a tutorial on it. It's the type of thing preppers fantasise about.

I think I have heard of that. It would also explain why many people wake up in the middle of the night and start worrying about stuff. I often do that, or just go to the loo.

I suppose mammals probably have the first and second sleep pattern, and humans are mammals. It would also make sense for animals to be sleeping and waking up at different times to keep watch for predators. If everyone is asleep for 8 hours together, predators could easily attack in that time.

I have done the first & second sleep thing without realising and I didn't know there was a name attached to it. Sometimes it's nice to do that for me.

About a decade ago I started doing the 1st sleep 2nd sleep and continue to do so today.
Couple hours sleep. Get up for an hour or two, then go back to bed for a couple more hours.
During the summer, now that I'm retired, I'll often take a nap during the middle of the day, when there is no shade outside to work in. I'll plan my activities to work in the shade.

The light in my web surfing room were getting really dim so I replaced them. They were LED bulbs that only lasted 1-1/2 years.